Manufacture of stockings



' Dec. 22, 1931. L. H. GREENWALD I 1,837,616

MANUFACTURE OF STOCKINGS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 23, 19:50

INVENTOR Law/0110917 Gre /2 1 BY (41w wrhd,

ATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 22, 1931 V UNITED STATES AWRE CE H. ennnnwenn,or nnw yon NZ'Y. I

. mnnur'eorunn or sroexmes Application filed August 23, 1930.. SerialNo. 477,271.

This invention relates to a process and a means for carrylng out aprocess of drylng stockings during the knitting operation.

7 As is well understood, when knitting silk it is essential to have theyarn wet in order to make it pliable to make a good stitch therebypreventing what is usually referred to as sleaziness. However, if thesilkistoo wet it will be stretched when the material is 31.1 drawn offthereby greatly distorting the stitches which will maintain thisdistorted condition whendried, and will cause sleazi ness in thestocking when' the fabric is stretched on the form and pressed.

The usual practice is ;to have-the silk just wet enough to form a goodstitch anddry enough to reel withoutany markeddistortion. The firstcondition that the silk be wet enough can be taken care of by usinganartificial moistening means. In the present practice, if the silk isfreshly humidified. to the required extent to produce agood stitch theresultant fabric is uniform only when the weather is fairly warm and.the air dry; When there is a great deal of moisture in the air the silkruns too wet and the woven fabric stretches. When the air is very drythe yarn may not be sufiiciently moist and the stockings will be knittedirregularlydue to the lack of moisture in the silk. In either case themerchandise produced is unsatisfactory.

The ideal condition is to have the silk wet at the point of knitting anddrythereafter. If this is accomplished the fabric somade when removedfrom the machine is practically the same shape as it will be when it isdyed, shaped and finished. There will be no distortion of the fabricduring subsequent operations.

By the ordinary method it is customary, after the knitting has beencompleted, to dry the legs before the feet are put on them but if thefabric is treated according to my invention this extra drying operationwill not be necessary, neither will it be necessary to dry the feet byan extra drying, operation before looping if the footers are alsoequippedwith my device.

Legs made by the ordinary process have heavily curled selvage's. Theseare :larly diflicult to seam, the heavily curled selvage causing aheavyand uneven seam. f

Among the objects of my invention is the process of drying a stockingfabric as it-"is fi fi being knitted so that all the objectionablefeatures above set forth will be prevented. I Another object is theprovision of means 1 for carrying out this process.

' In the accompanying drawings I have 51 shown one form of mechanism bywhich my process may be carriedout- Otherobjects of my invention willappear from consideration of the following description taken inconneo'tion with the drawings, in which j j Fig. 1 is a cross section of aportion of a standard knitting machine; I Fig. 2 is a perspective viewof a suitable heating bar,

' Fig. 8 is a part sectional .side vieiw of tli e heating bar; and V. pFig. et is a cross section on the lined-4: of Fig. 3.

In Fig. 1 I have shown-a. cross section of a small portion of a knittingmachine known ,7? r

in the trade as the R eading machine. in whichthere are disclosed onlythose features necessary to explain ,this inventionl The needle bar isshown at A, Fig. 1, and is operated by the needle bar lever B intheusualmanner. The fabric is knitted at the point indicated at C known as theknitting field, after which it is drawnacross draw-off bridges D bytake-oft reelE which places the fabric under suitabletension-which may;in certain machines,'be automatically varied as different sections ofthe fabric are knitted. The usual practice is to moisten the yarn toproduce a uniform fabric and to depend upon atmospheric conditions todry the ,knit- 4 ted fabric at least tofa certain degreeas it is beingdrawn off by. thetake-ofi reel E, and later to permit it todryin theatmosphere for subsequentoperations. The result of this process isusually a'fabricwhich has been considerably elongated and narrowed bytheconstant tension on it 'produced'by thetake off reel The edges ofthisfabric are curled inwardly into. several convolutionsi and the loops ofthe fabric are elongated and, naiv rowed as shown 'in Fig. 9. hen thefabric I produced this way is put on'the former and shaped the stitcheswill be pulled uneven,

this unevenness beingcaused by th'e fact that the loops have to beconsiderably widened and as aresult' will 'be distorted as the widthofthe fabric is increased by stretching. This produces-sieaziness,which-is an objectionable feature as is well understood. w a

In order to avoid this condition I have provided a heating bar F, Figs.1,2, 3 and r 4, which 1- preferably provide with two arms G, Figs. 1 and2, which are pivoted upon af rod H suitably supported-inbracket-s Iwhich in turn are suitably secured to the front bed or table J ,-''Fig. 1. Thepivotal connection is provided so that the heating bar F mayhe i lowered; when desired for'purposes of facili- .to the shaft H.

tatingrepairs on the machine." The heating bar Fispreferably he'ldin'position close to the fabric by 'meansof the weight'Ksecured "Theheating bar 'may consist of: elec: trical heating units M, and thecurrent supply for these units may be obtained from the house supplythrough wire connections as.

indicated. 7 T he two heating units'M of each drying barF'areIpreferably spaced and the uppe'rfsurface of the bar F is depressed, asshown at N, Figs. 2 and 8, to clear the drawoffbridges 1) between thecorresponding adfabric produced according to my process is 'num whichmay be provided with depending slotted lugs P so that the bar may beadjustably secured on thegarms G to regulate'the position of the barwithrespect to the fabric.v

It is obvious of course that in carrying out this process other heatingunits or drying bars could be employed, such for instance as steamdrying units or the like. In all cases it is essential to locate the baras close to the knitting field at the point C as is possible." Thisisgfor the purpose of drying the fabric shortly after it is knitted sothat the by the :loops of thefabric may become set drying process assoon as possible,

A fabric produced on a knitting machine on which my heating bar has beenapplied will be considerably shorter and'considerably widergthan thefabric produced according to While I have described my new process andone means by which the process may be carried out it is to be understoodthat this process may be carried out by other means, and that I intendto cover all equivalent processes and mechanisms falling within thescope of't he claims, I V a i What is claimed is: i

the 'fabric'from the knitting field over drawoffbridges between thesections of the machine, of a drying element cooperating with aplurality of sections mounted for movement toward. andaway from thelower face ofthe fabric, said drying element being depressed centrallyopposite said draw-ofl'tbridges to permit ofniovement into closeproximity to said fabric. f

1 2. The combination ting machine for simultaneously k-nittinga with asectional knit-V '1. ,The combination with a sectional knit tingmachinefor simultaneously knitting a "plurality of fabrics from moistsilk yarn and provided with the usual means for drawing 7 plurality offabrics from moistyarn'and provided with the usual means for drawing thefabric from the knitting field over drawoff bridgesbetween the sectionsof the machine,wof a drying element comprising a bar extendingjover aplurality of sections, and heating units carried by said bar and locatedon opposite sides of the draw-offobridg-es in the path of said bar; 7

7 3. The combination with a sectional knittingmachine for simultaneouslyknitting a plurality of fabrics from moist silk'yarn and providedwiththeusual means for drawing the fabric from the knitting fieldoverdrawofi' bridges between the sections of themachlne, of a dryingelement comprising a ba-r extending-over. a plurality of sections, and

heating units carried by said bar and located I on opposite sides of thedraw-offbridges'in the path of: said'bar, the bar'between said heatingunits being recessed to permit of loeating the bar in close proximity tothe fabrics produced by adjacent sections;

In testimony whereof I havesigned name to this specification.

LAWRENCE H. GREE WALD.

the usual process. -The loops of this fabric will be considerablyshorter and wider and the curls produced on the edges will have fewerconvolutions,,thus facilitating uncurlin-g during the seaming process. I,VVhen the V stretched'upon the former and pressed the loops willuniformly shorten and widen result ng in a fabric 1n which nos'leaziness appears. 7' m CERTIFICATE OF (JOIRRECTIUN;

Patent No. 1,837,616. Granted December 22, 1931, to

LAWRENCE H. GREENWALD.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specificationof the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 1,line 84, after "by" insert the article a; page 2, line 89, claim 2,after "moist" insert the word silk; and that the said Letters Patentshould be read withthese corrections therein that the same may conformto the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 16th day of February, A. D. 1932.

M. J. Moore, Acting Commissioner of Patents.

(Seal)

